Besides Lyme disease, the second tick illness to watch for this summer is babesiosis--it causes a malarialike condition in humans.

Personal Health July 30, 2012, 12:01 am

Another Tick-Borne Disease to Guard AgainstBy JANE E. BRODYDespite its many delights, summer also brings its fair share of pestilence. One, called babesiosis, has only recently been widely recognized as a potentially serious outdoor hazard. According to a very detailed study conducted on Block Island, R.I., it could eventually rival Lyme disease as the most common tick-borne ailment in the United States.

But with reasonable precautions, neither babesiosis nor Lyme should keep you from enjoying a romp in the grass or hike in the woods.

Babesiosis is caused by protozoans that invade red blood cells and can cause a malarialike illness. The disease has an interesting history, recently recounted in The New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Peter J. Krause, a Yale researcher specializing in tick-borne diseases, and Edouard Vannier, an immunologist at Tufts Medical Center.

While the article mentions using DEET products as a way of warding off ticks along with clothing and body checks, be aware that there are age guidelines concerning its application on children under a certain age. DEET is a chemical with some biological impacts that have warranted its removal in some countries, so do read labels for directions and restrictions on use.

Tick paralysis is real for small kids-two parents in the US found out the hard way that their toddlers had embedded ticks, which secrete neurotoxins into the scalp. Make sure to look for ticks in your children in their hair if they have been outdoors.

Tick paralysis is caused by female ticks on the verge of laying eggs. After the tick eats a blood meal and is engorged, it secretes a neurotoxin into the host, according to the American Lyme disease Foundation.

Paralysis begins in the legs, then spreads to the upper extremities. It can manifest as fatigue, numbness and an increasing inability to move, according to the foundation.

In the later stages it is harder for the victim to move her face or tongue. If nothing is done, the toxin ultimately makes it impossible for a person to breathe, resulting in respiratory failure.

The paralysis is more common in animals, which are unable to check themselves for the ticks.